About Lynette

I am an intuitive empath, a wise-woman healer and an old soul.   In this life, I am a published author, award-winning artist and certified holistic health coach.  Growing up abroad, I was able to travel the world, and explore diverse cultures, religions and lifestyles.  

But how did my own path of spiritual discovery, creative recovery and physical well-being begin?  Yes, with ultimate self-care!

This is my story...

Savasana.  Corpse pose. The final pose in my yoga practice.  I’m a big fan of savasana.  I lie back on my mat, eyes closed, arms open, legs splayed and settle in for the final rest.  I sigh out loud.  After the rigors of class, it’s a moment of pure bliss, I sigh again.  Almost immediately it starts.  The thoughts!  They burble up like fetid water coming to the surface of my mind.  In meditation this is often referred to as monkey mind as the thoughts bounce from branch to branch, limb to limb, hanging by their tail in my mind.  But this isn’t monkey mind.  Monkey mind, while distracting, is amusing.  The idea of thoughts hanging by their tail is cute. You can bring yourself back to center with a smile and a breath.  But this isn’t a monkey mind; this is a gorilla mind.  It’s heavy and these thoughts are dark, creating chaos and destruction.  I can’t breathe.  My yoga instructor bends down and whispers in my ear, “Lynette, you look like you’re braced for impact rather than savasana.  Relax, just breathe.”  Just breathe.  If only it could be that simple.

I am braced for impact.  The body blows of the past few months were getting harder and harder to ignore, to process.  I was on the cusp of losing my job.  A job which had occupied my time for the past decade. Yes, a job that paid my bills and provided security, but did nothing to feed my soul or help me discover my life’s purpose.  Big changes were coming and while I welcomed the change, embraced it even, I find myself more frightened than I cared to admit.  At my age, I am too young to retire, but too old to get another job and start over again.  I’ve been broke before, and know first-hand that survival mode is no way to live.  Am I destined to be an old woman eating cat food along with her cats?

I am braced for impact.  Just that morning I learned that the man I loved, my beloved, had moved in with and was planning to marry another woman.  We were “taking a break” while he found himself.  Oh he found himself all right, now I was the one who was lost.  The truth was getting harder to hear:  He didn’t want me; he wasn’t coming back.  I wonder:   Did he ever love me?  Will anyone ever love me? Am I destined to be an old woman alone with her cats? 

I am braced for impact.  On and on romps my gorilla mind.

Braced for impact seemed normal somehow as body blows were becoming a common way of life for me.  You don’t get to my age without a fair share of pain and this was not my first heartbreak.  I had survived my husband’s infidelity and an ugly divorce; worried myself sick over family members struggling with serious illnesses; I was helpless to stop the economy from killing my painting business and ending my career in the arts, forcing me to find the aforementioned Real Job; and far from least, my best friend, a man I loved, suddenly died from complications of a routine surgery.   Yes, I was very familiar with the pain of loss, stress and strain.  The list was depressingly impressive, but this time the pain felt different somehow.  My bones were tired.  My heart hurt.  I simply did not have the energy to reinvent myself yet again.  For the first time in my life, I felt a hopelessness, like my soul was dying. 

Inner strength has always been my strong suit.  I’m a pick-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps kind of gal.  Move along, nothing to see here…  I’ve been known to put a smile on my face and power-through my day, despite the inner turmoil.  Yet, grief seemed to be a determined taskmaster this time; she won’t let me ignore her again.  There are no bootstraps to pick up, and there will be no powering through.  So I grieve.  And I breathe.  And I breathe again.  Perhaps, just perhaps, it could be that simple after all.  Just breathe.

This blog is my testimony to healing my heart, finding my soul’s purpose and thereby learning that ultimate self-care does indeed build the foundation of a well-nourished soul.  Thank you for joining me.  Let’s build a more loving world together.

~Lynette